The Well-Tempered Ear

Classical music: The Chicago-based Volta String Quartet, made up of young UW-Madison alumni, makes its FREE local debut Saturday night at the Capitol Lakes Retirement Center in music by Haydn, Schubert and Bartok

By Jacob Stockinger

The Ear has an announcement to pass on from the Volta Quartet:

“Join us for our first concert in Madison!

“It is this Saturday night from 7 to 8 p.m. at the Capitol Lakes Retirement Community, 333 West Main Street, two blocks off the Capitol Square.

“The program features the Quartettsatz (Quartet Movement), D. 703, by Franz Schubert; String Quartet, Op. 33, No. 5, by Joseph Haydn; and Quartet No. 1 by Béla Bartók. (You can hear the beautiful “Quarttetsatz by Schubert played by the Alban Berg Quartet in the YouTube video at the bottom.)

“We are called the Volta Quartet, and we are based in Chicago. It is comprised of Alex Norris, and Ben Seeger on violins; Willie Mclellan on viola; and Elizabeth Oar on cello.

The members are pictured below (left to right)” Willie, Ben, Elizabeth and Alex.

“Ben, Willie and Alex are all UW-Madison music alumni, and Alex met Elizabeth at the Madeline Island music camp. So, we are all tied together by our experiences in Wisconsin.

“We formed the quartet this summer because we all love to play string quartets and we don’t want to give up that part of our lives just because we are busy with other things.”